Map I. Southern Sumatra, Showing Location of Six of the Early Srivijaya
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Map I. Southern Sumatra, showing location of six of the early Srivijaya inscriptions EARLY POLITIES IN SOUTHERN SUMATRA: SOME PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS BASED ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE* E. Edwards McKinnon Introduction While it is known from historical sources that certain polities existed in southern Sumatra during the late first and early second millennium AD, it has been difficult to establish conclusive archaeological evidence concerning them. These circumstances have arisen for several reasons, among the most important being lack of any systematic search for archaeological remains in the region, the terrain itself, and insufficient knowledge of ancient demography. Most archaeological sites in the area have been known since the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries, when they were reported by travelers or colonial administrators, such as John Anderson or L. C. Westenenk. Since then, however, much of the earlier evidence has been destroyed. Sites have been plundered for building materials and have all but disappeared, and images have been removed to museums for safekeeping without accurate records being made of their original locations. There are a limited number of key sites in the Musi and Batang Hari river valleys which have not been examined by professional archaeologists for over half a century and which may still reveal valuable information about earlier times. In addition, habitation sites have been recognized more recently in the lower reaches of both rivers which will enable archaeologists to make a much more comprehensive assessment of cultural interaction in the region than has been possible hitherto. The first professionally conducted excavation was carried out in Palembang only in 1974. Since 1982, however, there have been limited but extremely useful excavations at Muara Jambi. This article will attempt to bring together the archaeological evidence that has been found thus far in the Musi and Batang Hari river valleys and suggest what light these shed upon the nature of the polities existing in the region from the seventh to the fourteenth centuries. The Late First Millennium Evidence from the Inscriptions Six inscriptions, t dating to the latter part of the seventh century AD are the earliest epigraphical evidence of sophisticated social and political *1 * A first draft of this article was presented in May 1984 at a symposium on Southeast Asia in the ninth and fourteenth centuries at the Australian National University, Canberra. 1. Now seven, a further "curse" inscription having been found very recently 1 2 organization in southern Sumatra. They indicate the existence here of a major center of power in the region at that time, that of the ancient Malay thalassocracy of Srivijaya. Of these inscriptions, three are to be found in the vicinity of Palembang, the modern provincial capital of South Sumatra Province on the lower course of the Musi river. One came to light at Talang Tuo, some eight kilometers west of Bukit Seguntang across the swamp known as Putih Kuku, and a second at Kedukan Bukit,2 just to the south of Bukit Seguntang. The third, bearing the text of a curse, was found at Sabokingking to the west of the modern city, on an area of higher ground lying between Gede ing suro and the Sei Buah, immediately to the south of a tank or pond known as Telaga Batu. There are three other major curse inscriptions relating to Srivijaya, all bearing basically similar texts, but that of Sabokingking is the most sophisticated.3 Indeed, both the text of the curse and the form of the great naga stone of Sabokingking are the most elaborate presentation of any of the Srivijayan inscriptions. One cannot do better than repeat de Casparis* translation of Stutterheim’s description of this stone: The stone is hooded by seven cobra heads with flat, round crown jewels, broad necks and neck wrinkles, which, at the back of the stone gradually merge into the flat surface of the stone. On the front side, 28 lines of script are visible, badly weathered and illegible but for a few aksaras. The inscribed part of the stone is separated from the roughly flattened underpart by a protruding horizontal ledge, which descends a little before joining the surface of the stone; thus a groove is formed, passing in the middle part into a spout in the form of a Yoni.4 The inscription comprises two parts, a short introductory text in a dialect that is imperfectly understood and which has so far defied clear translation, followed by a second, longer text in Old Malay.5 The lettering is a form of Tamil Grantha script, the earliest form of writing known in Southeast Asia. at Desa Jabung on the Way Sekampung in South Lampung. Information from Drs. Bambang Budi Utomo. 2. Westenenk refers to "door hen gegraven kanaal Kedoekan Boekit," L. C. Westenenk, "Bukit Segoentang en Goenoeng Mahameroe uit de Sedjarah Melayoe," Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (hereafter TBG) 63 (1923): 212-26, 216. Keduk is from Javanese, mengeduk, to dig or scoop out. 3. J. G. de Casparis, "The Old Malay Inscription of Telaga Batu (South Sumatra)," in his Prasasti Indonesia II (Bandung: Masa Baru, 1956), pp. 15-46. See also, Boechari, "An Old Malay Inscription of Srivijaya at Palas Pasemah (South Lampung)," in Pra Seminar Penelitian Srivijaya, ed. Drs. Satyawati Suleiman (Jakarta: Pusat Penelitian Purbakala dan Peninggalan Nasional (hereafter Puspan], 1979), pp. 18-40. 4. De Casparis, "Old Malay Inscription," p. 15, translated from Jaarboek van het Koningklijke Bataviasche Genootschap III [1936], p. 198. The existence of this particular stone raises questions regarding the nature of ophiolatry in Sumatra during the seventh century. It has, however, a long association with Buddhism in India. The Buddhism of Sumatra was initially Mahayana, which culminated in Vajrajana or left-handed Tantrism of the Kalacakra, latterly merging with Saivism. 5. Boechari, "Old Malay Inscription," p. 23. 3 Plate 1. The Great Naga Stone of Sabokingking (Courtesy: Muaeun Nasionel, Jakarta} Map II. Musi River Basin 5 The imprecation formula comprises three parts: an invocation to the Gods, a curse to evildoers, and finally a blessing (tantramala) to those who remain loyal to the Datuk (Chief). The introductory portion of the inscription appears to pronounce a shorter version of the fuller, Old Malay, text.8 The Saboking- king version is unique, in that here the Datuk refers to himself as "Aku,n a reference which is thought to imply the physical presence of the Chief him self. 6 7 8910 Both the text and the physical form of the stone indicate that the vassals of the Datuk were required to drink the curse, or, more precisely, to drink sanctified water which had been poured over the stone and which then embodied the spirit of the imprecation. Both de Casparis8 and Kenneth Hall8 suggest similarities with such practices known from India and elsewhere in Sumatra. Later, in the eighteenth century William Marsden, writing about the laws and customs of the Rejang, who live around the headwaters of the Musi, noted an interesting form of oath taking or makan sumpah (to swallow an oath): The place of greatest solemnity for administering an oath, is the krammat or burying ground of their ancestors, and several superstitious ceremonies are observed on the occasion. The people near the sea-coast, in general, by long intercourse with the Malays, have an idea of the Koran, and usually employ this in swearing, which the priests do not fail to make them pay for; but the inland people keep, laid up in their houses, certain old reliques, called in the Rejang language pesakko, and in Malayan, sactian, which they produce when an oath is to be taken. They consist of an old rusty kris, a broken gun barrel, or any ancient trumpery, to which chance or caprice has annexed an idea of extraordinary virtue. These they generally dip in water, which the person who swears drinks off, after having pronounced the form of words before mentioned. The pangeran of Sungai-lamo has by him certain copper bullets, which had been steeped in water, drunk by the Sungei etam chiefs, when they bound themselves never to molest his dis tricts: which they have only done since, as often as they could venture it with safety, from the relaxation of our government. In all these ceremonies, they burn on the spot a little gum ben zoin. The above quotation is interesting in that it illustrates the tenacity of such beliefs in what were apparently similar circumstances, binding insubordinate chiefs to an acceptable code of conduct. In the ultimate instance, however, 6. Ibid., p. 25. 7. J. G. de Casparis, in discussing "Some Notes on the Epigraphical Heritage of Srivijaya," SPAFA Digest 3, 2 (1982): 29-34. 8. De Casparis, "Old Malay Inscription." 9. See K. R. Hall, "State and Statecraft in Early Srivijaya," in Explorations in Early Southeast Asian History: The Origins of Southeast Asian Statecraft, ed. Kenneth R. Hall and John K. Whitmore (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, 1976), pp. 89-91. 10. William Marsden, The History of Sumatra (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford in Asia Historical Reprints, 1966), pp. 242-43. History, it seems, tends to repeat itself. 6 the final decision would no doubt depend upon the ruler’s superiority in arms and his ability to enforce his will on his vassals.1'' Two of the other curse inscriptions were found at Kota Kapur on the island of Bangka and at Karang Berahi, above Pamenang on the Batang Merangin, a tributary of the Batang Hari in upper Jambi (Nos. 2 and 3 on Map I). Latterly, at Palas Pasemah,11 12 another version of the curse has been found on a ridge overlooking the Way Pisang, a tributary of the Way Sekampung, the largest river in southern Lampung (No.